Target Market News has announced it will host the 2009 African American Internet Marketing Summit on Thursday, Nov. 19th in Chicago at the Wyndham Hotel downtown. The all-day conference — the only such gathering of its kind in the nation — will feature some of the industry’s leading executives and companies in marketing, advertising, media, technology and research.

“Think of this as the 2.0 version of our 2008 Internet Summit,” said Ken Smikle, President of Target Market News. “We added marketing to the title because we’re putting an emphasis on how the Internet and digital platforms reach the $800 billion African American consumer market. With the boom in social media, there needs to be more dialogue on how marketers continue to explore and use the hundreds of targeted digital media platforms. The financial opportunities are too great to ignore — especially in this economic climate.”

The Summit will examine how numerous Fortune 500 companies have effectively used digital platforms to reach African Americans including State Farm, AT&T, McDonalds, Toyota, American Airlines, Ford, Walmart and the U.S. Navy. Among the advertising agencies invited to participate and make presentations are UniWorld Group, GlobalHue, Sanders\Wingo, Burrell Communications, Vigilante and Carol H. Williams Advertising.

Research continues to point to the growing importance of African-Americans and digital media. Recent studies have found that nearly have of all African-Americans have access to the Internet; that blacks are the most active segment of those who access the Internet from a mobile device; and 11 percent of all bloggers are African-American.

The issues that will be addressed by panels of experts at the Summit include:

– Case Studies of How Leading Companies Market to Blacks Consumers on the Net
– What the Latest Research Reveals About Internet Usage
– The Obama Factor: Internet Lessons For Savvy Marketers
– Marketing to African Americans Through Targeted Social Media
– What The Loss of RushmoreDrive.com Means to Digital Platforms
– Engagement vs. Traffic: What National Advertisers Value Most
– How the Internet Empowers Black Women Consumers
– Are Local Advertisers Being Ignored as Revenue Opportunities?
– Digital Decisions: Is Your Content Audience or Advertiser Driven?
– How Black Media Has Incorporated and Adapted to the Web

Information on the program details, registration and sponsorship opportunities can be found at www.TargetMarketNews.com. Participants must register in advance. Registration will not be accepted onsite. Attendees should contact the Wyndham Hotel Chicago to take advantage of discount rates for the Summit.

Target Market News is recognized as the nation’s leading news and information source on African-American marketing, media and consumer research. The 20-year-old, Chicago-based company publishes a daily online news bulletin and annual “The Buying Power of Black America” report. It also hosts the annual Marketing to African-Americans with Excellence (MAAX) Summit and the African-American Magazine Summit.

For more information, e-mail Target Market News at info@targetmarketnews.com, or call 312-408-1881.